147474-morning-coffee-1124-housing-theory-101-edition
Content ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- I go in with a theme in mind, but a LOT of it I just kinda wing it. From conception, I wanted Antimony's plot to represent the in-game location of where her spaceship crashed on Nexus - a narrow maze of canyons tucked in the mountains between Wilderrun and Auroria. Pre-drop 6, this was represented simply by walling in the plot completely, careful to use only the rocks and plants seen in the regions. With the housing plot expansion I was able to reimagine the surrounding area and really create that "wandering through canyons" feeling - at least I think so. But really I never planned it much outside of, "I want canyons and a super dense, rainy jungle-y area". xD That's how my other housing projects have gone, too. Elym Wildrye's plot began as, "I want to build a treehouse" and then morphed into "this is kind of an aurin sanctuary" and then "it's really starting to take on religious tones in places". It was inspired by a MASSIVE tree with spiraling walkways made out of root and wood in a zone in Rift, and good grief I used up a huge chunk of my decor count on those spiral walkways, but it was worth it. xD Sometimes my lack of planning bites me in the ass though, as I've been struggling to figure out what to do with the interior of the plot for a while, and I'm not sure how I want to fill in the new expanded space. We shall see. My spiral-tree is SUPER cool though. :D My Cassian Eilor Corvinus's plot began with a similarly vague idea: "ridiculously patriotic dominion estate in the sky". I started on the interior first and immediately thought, "I need that fancy double-staircase entry" (like this). So I made one. I'm not satisfied 100% - primarily because of limited building materials. The wood isn't really the aesthetic I would have gone for, but it's the only way I could really pull it off without going for a more metallic look. Maybe some day we'll get marble decor and it'll really be able to shine. xD Anyway, once the interior was "done", I just kind of started... adding things to the outside as I thought of them. I attached a covered porch to the house with vines snaking through the overhang. Then I thought, "A classy Cassian needs a personal sauna", so I built a bathouse. Then she needed a guest house. I've got a big space still to fill - I may put a personal shrine/worship structure there. xD Whatever comes to mind, really. | |} ---- While I enjoy arenas (or at least I do in theory), this is pretty frustrating, yeah. I wonder what the chances are of them being rating unlocked later on, like last season's rated gear. | |} ---- Oh yeah. Back when I was working on Kitty's ship I got lost for about two weeks. Heck even on smaller builds I get sucked in. Same thing with add-on development. The current Lansaheart is really the second iteration. I started by building out the bridge then tacked on the cargo hold and crew quarters. Except there was a problem. When I used one of the space flight skies it was backwards :(. I resisted for about a week but eventually caved and rotated the ship (in sections). While rotation worked fine moving them across plug boundaries triggered one of the many bugs that caused almost all of the individual pieces to get out of alignment. That coupled with some fit issues I gave up and rebuilt it. Of course now what once used to take up the whole plot is swallowed up by it. If I decide to rebuild I might just plan the next one out a little better. I haven't done anything really extensive on my other alt's. There are some partial builds on two of mine as backdrops for a couple RP events I'm running. Ghost Mom's place has a minimal build and I'm happy enough with it that I'm considering building that out a bit more. That one will probably be a bit more organic. ----- I did something last night that I'd never thought I'd do. I queued for a Vet Dungeon on Elsa. She needed one or two to finish out her weekly. Normally I'd run with some guild folks but they were in an alt raid. Anyway it was a guild run and they announced they were shooting for gold (of course I missed that until a few minutes into it). Frankly I'm surprised they didn't kick me as her gear was only partially runed but I guess since it was STL they weren't too bothered. Alas somebody got hit by a tornado so no gold for us. Silver was plenty good for me though. The only downer for her was that I decided I may as well get her gear in better shape so I started with her best piece (orange shoulders). I got into the reroll death spiral on the last rune and burned through about 3 plat before I gave up and used Service Tokens :angry: ----- Bri had a comparatively better night. Since I had finished out all the contracts I felt like (full set on Elsa and Bri and a couple on Kitty) and got Elsa her dungeon run I was considering heading for bed but the clock read 10:20pm. Prestige-wise Bri wasn't all that far away from earning another Ability Point so I queued her up (so sorry to the teams that got her). Holy heck, now I remember why Anna made so much plat. Guess Bri's going to haunt BG's for a bit. Might bring Anna back out of retirement. Shame that Season 2 awards are locked to Arenas (blech). Little reason for me to get serious about it. | |} ---- ---- I'm at this point, still. I've dabbled in housing and slapped down decor and Fabkits I've collected in a vaguely pleasing fashion, but I've not really worked on a theme. Wildstar's housing system is capable of some amazing results. I've toured around the housing plots quite a lot and marveled at what some other players have created. But I'm also aware of the huge amount of time investment needed to produce those results. Whilst I probably have the creativity (design is my day job too) I'm not sure I have the willpower. Kudos to those who do. If I'm honest, I'm also not confident that any time invested into housing will be respected by future changes to the game. The way the existing plots were shunted to the middle of the housing map by the new enlarged plots was jarring. I know the larger plots are better if you're starting from scratch, but if you have an existing design they should have provided the option to retain the smaller plot if you wish. I know this was a one-time change, but who's to say there won't be future one-time changes that will cause a lot of work to adapt existing designs to. It just makes me wary to pour too many hours into my plot. | |} ---- Yeah I'm too stubborn to do that. xD I pick a class and stick with it through thick and through thin. Even if it means I get stomped in PvP for a while... | |} ---- As much as I love to pvp, I really do hate arenas. Most of the top arena teams tend to run whatever the superior meta is going at the time. Its the same issue WoW has and imo locking pvp gear into niche area in pvp is asinine. In order for people to stay relevant in arenas you must level and gear all classes so that if one of the meta classes is hit with a nerf hammer someone the team can adjust. | |} ---- ---- While I understand the frustration, it's like that in almost any mmo. For example, before WoW I had played SWG and before SWG (pre-nge, or whenever they introduced the set classes) I had my hands in UO. While the latter 2 did offer multiple builds for pvp there was always a meta to each. It's really just a function of mmo's. In SWG you could set builds up to either take out health, stamina, or mind and since most had low mind most pvp builds obviously went towards that (Swordsmen or TKM anyone? of which I was a tkm lol). Jedi's (and I knew several) in general just completely rekted anything in their path, unless there was a BH who knew how to play :). So love it or hate it, the concept has been around for a while (pvp meta that is) and probably is not disappearing. In an environment where multiple abilities/professions are offered there's bound to be a build that just have a synergy about them and that forces a meta to come into play. I love pve and all types of pvp (pvx'er by heart) and you have to realize that the rating lock is needed for pure pvp'ers, otherwise what do they have to work towards?....basically their version of raiding, in a warped fashion. | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Unlikely. S1 gear was unlocked because the devs actually understood that locking PvP gear progression behind rating gave a huge advantage to the early movers. They had to and PvP is better for it. Cosmetics are (well, can be) attractive but it doesn't hurt anybody's performance if they don't achieve the rating. Edited November 24, 2015 by PlasmaJohn | |} ---- ---- Oh dont get me wrong I understand the meta, my issue is mainly with locking out the gear in such a way that only the people willing to play specifically that can get access to the top gear. Even PvE cases as in WoW the top gear is set in the hardest mode, however everyone still has the opportunity to reach that goal through teamwork no matter the class played which is not the case in PvP. I shouldn't need to change my class to be relevant in. Eitherway that is a debate for another time :D As to the housing stuff, where are all of you finding those decor pieces like the little tiki bar looking thing, wood plank slats, and the huge glass windows. | |} ---- Gratz! Been a long time coming, and I know you must be super proud :D Now it's our turn . . . | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- If you have the Katia Builder Toolkit, the decor shopper lets you search all the available decor models! livingingwildstar.com is also a very good resource, but hasn't been updated in a looong time. Most of what you will use is still in there though:) Edited November 24, 2015 by Katia Managan | |} ---- I think I'd like it better if the rating restricted costumes were for arena rating OR battleground rating. It hurts my soul to not have them. D: D: D: On the other hand, there is the PvP costume vendor, with that "season 1" tab, which seems ripe to add a "season 2" tab later on with the new costumes.... Brutzkrieg Boulderbrew's plot is very popular Exile-side for "bar" rp. Suki Stillriver (I think that's right...) has a teahouse that's open a couple evenings of the week. There are a few others. Check out the calendar at wildstar-roleplay.com if you're interested! Edited November 24, 2015 by Naunet | |} ---- ---- Fair enough, but the last tidbit I would like to add is that you can use a "nerfed" class in the meta and be just fine. However you have to be on the ball with your class and anticipate their moves and not make too many mistakes. Using the meta is just the easier way out for most :). Not big on housing myself, mostly function over form. Give me my training dummies, crafting station, and mailbox and I am set. | |} ---- 4 and a 1/2 day....considering you finished early today :P | |} ---- That is what i am shooting for right now, if i can get all the pay cleared out before noon tomorrow i can go home and not have to come back until Monday :D | |} ---- Yeah, I gotta wrap up today and come in for like ... crap ... two hours tomorrow to deal with a project I've let slide because of holiday ads. Meh. No worries, after that it's all punkin pie, turkey and dressing and DOUBLE XP WEEKEND! Now, to pick which class and character to level up. :lol: | |} ---- ---- For me that's an easy choice. For forever and a day I've had a level 25 granok warrior sitting around waiting for me to pick him back up. Once he's 50 I'll have all 6 classes at 50 Exile side. Between Entity-2 and Warhound I have a handful of alts that I'd like to at least get to housing. (I'm so gonna get sick of Espers <_<) Edited November 24, 2015 by PlasmaJohn | |} ---- Heh. Thanks to our new use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy the week following Turkey Day's a burner week. Maybe I'll finally get around to fixing that leaky faucet. Or rebuilding my house server. Oh who am I kidding? It'll be all Wildstar :rolleyes: | |} ---- Sounds like when i told my wife I am going to put the drywall up in the garage.... but whispered when they close down the WS servers. She is still wondering when its going to get done :P I still can decide if I am going to strike up a warrior or stalker to play exile. I am also thinking about spellslinger, geez i hate being an Altoholic :angry: Edited November 24, 2015 by Wolfuse | |} ---- ---- Ffffff thanks for reminding me. SIGH. My husband's been bragging about how he's already almost done. And I'm sitting here like, "Presents? Uh..." Edited November 24, 2015 by Naunet | |} ---- Its kind of hard for me to forget about it as every few minutes from since September we have had Christmas adverts on the TV. Those ad's are getting earlier and earlier. | |} ---- ---- Get ready Xmas 2016 ads are planned to start 12/28/2015 and run till 12/25/2016 :lol: Edited November 24, 2015 by Wolfuse | |} ---- ---- You get one AMP point at path lvl 15 and an Ability point at path lvl 30. Get gold in all the Vet. Shiphands (Polka will never die!) and you can buy a cheap single use AMP point (1500 renown IIRC). You should be able to get to max rep in Crimson Badlands, Northern Wastes, and the Defile within about two weeks if you do all the solo dailies. Those give you AMP,AMP and Ability respectively. Blighthaven (SW,Elyona,Guardians of the Grove) also gives an Ability tier unlock and recently got some solo dailies to do as well. If you do all the one time missions that'll get you well into Liked. The Protostar reputation items you get from doing contracts help a ton with accelerating the rep grind. I'll probably dump mine into Blighthaven or StarCom Basin. There are two single use unlocks you can buy for renown (one of each) but those are really expensive. 250k and 350k? Whatever, something stupidly high for a one-time use. R-12 doesn't run often enough. If you can get Gold in all the classic Vet Adventures that's an Ability unlock buuuuut.... Vet Malgrave Trail is way too long and far too prone to RNG failure in the last 10 minutes. There's a mix of unlocks you can if you get a Gold Medal in the Vet Dungeons. Out of all the dungeons I've run I've seen Gold once. Maybe twice. And that was well after having all my points. Outside of buying them off the CX (@4-6p each) the fastest way to grind them is to run a whole bunch of PvP. Doesn't even matter if you're good (but please do buy the starter blue PvP gear) Still impatiently waiting the glory equivalent. *taps watch* Edited November 24, 2015 by PlasmaJohn | |} ---- :lol: :lol: Actually I'd say... well adjusted adults have no reason to be petty or jelly about any in-game shenanigans. Age has little to do with it. There are plenty of man childs in this game, especially on Exile side rofl. | |} ---- Who are you calling "well adjusted"?!!?!?! :D | |} ---- Could have called you reconditioned..... :P | |} ---- ---- Wow I just wanted to say thanks for sharing those screens, and your methodology for building! Very keen points, and an inspiring approach. As well, a thanks to Tex for the idea of grid paper. I am still 'woe betide whoever...' stoic anger at not being able to place objects closer to challange plugs- especially above them- and move plugs wherever I want. I would really like to see multiple areas to have a plug sit as well. your grid based design only reminds me of this more Tex. I personally try to incorperate neat challange plugs into my plots (or rather, am trying... so far without much success), as I like the idea of exploring a neat area and having some cool stuff to do at the same time. I will have to see about incorperating both your ideas, Esper, Tex, into my housing design style. :wub: ... once I escape Fallout helpme. | |} ---- ---- As cool as that sounds, which it does, i think it would be cannon fodder for flaming like the Shades eve housing contest was. Its a cool idea though. I still cant believe how childish some people can be, that flaming was just plain childish. | |} ---- That would be very awesome! Allowing for some places/creations to get put into the world would be very cool to see! | |} ---- That's brilliant thanks very much for the info. | |} ---- ---- ---- That sounds brilliant I was not aware that there was a neighborhood feature coming and your spacebase/shipyard idea sounds fantastic. | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----